Heir of Uzu: OV
by Isilithix
Summary: Original version of Heir of Uzu.
1. Chapter 1

Heir of Uzu

* * *

This is the third re-write of this chapter, so I hope that the succeeding chapters will come a little more easily; I doubt that they will, but I hope so.

Anyways, this story is going to have a slightly older Naruto, and a much older Hanabi. Why? Because the story wouldn't quite go as smoothly if Naruto was the same age as the other Rookies; so, instead of being 11, the same age as his peers in this story, he will be 14 instead, this also means he starts at the academy three years earlier than the Rookies do. This gives me enough time to plant certain seeds that will hopefully add to the story's thrill and excitement.

Why is Hanabi going to be older? Well, it isn't because I want her to be with Naruto. I have no qualms with Naruto/Hanabi stories, where Hanabi is her canon age, but where the story is set when the Rookies are about twenty and where Hanabi is sixteen (Anon. told me that canon! Hanabi is actually 5 years younger than Hinata, thank you for letting me know, the site I used didnt really display an age so...however in this story the canon!age doesnt apply to Hanabi; but thanks for letting me know) I have a Naruto/Hanabi story in my favorites. No. The reason why Hanabi is older than she is in canon is not because of pairing decisions, which are still unclear at this point in time by the way; but because I don't want to use Sai as a filler character in a team, mainly because he is so much more skillful than they are. Plus, it's been done before. So, Hanabi is going to be Hinata's twin…

Now, if these things are too much to handle (I seriously hope not), then there shouldn't be too many problems with this story. In fact, this story is quite like my first fanfiction, Child of the Touketsu Jurin. Not in the sense where Naruto is locked away from people, but in the sense that he is going to be given unique abilities that he must learn(in Child of the Touketsu Jurin, I really didn't have too much instructing going on about how to use his ice abilities) how to use them. However, it isn't ice that Naruto will wield in this story. What is he going to be wielding? Well, I can't tell you. You'll just have to read to find out.

One last thing before I insert some weird disclaimer, maybe involving exploding twinkies again…is this. Please, please, please do not ask what pairings will take place in this story. As I already stated, I don't know yet, and the way I work about these things, is if you keep hounding me for pairings, I will probably either not write any at all, or take someone who hasn't been asked for.

Now…exploding twinkie disclaimer…

If I owned Naruto, then I would have bought a weapons' facility and demanded that they make a twinkie gun that would turn anyone who I shot, into walking, talking twinkies that exploded upon being touched. Since I do not have such a weapon(one that would be feared by all…including wizards and witches) I guess I do not own Naruto…sad…I know…

Chapter 1

* * *

Naruto wriggled in his seat in the back of the classroom. Arumaki-Sensei, and old grey haired man with some small scars running down his jaw, was instructing the class about what they would be doing now that they had taken their writing test, the first step in the Genin Exam.

Naruto hadn't been too pleased to hear about the written test, though he knew it was something that he would have to take. One didn't take the Genin Exam three times and not know about it. The only problem was that Naruto didn't too all that well with written tests. However, as Arumaki-Sensei told the class about the next portions of the test, which would all be practical exercises such as throwing shuriken and kunai at targets and using jutsu, Naruto smiled.

Naruto was proficient with shuriken and kunai, and he could use henge without fail. He henged into the headmaster of the academy two years ago after he had gotten the jutsu to work for him the first time and then proceeded to give everyone a day off…He was caught later on and punished for doing so, but it as well worth seeing the headmaster being taken to the hospital for a mental evaluation. He could use kawarimi to an extent. He wasn't as skilled in using it as some of his peers were by no means, but he could substitute himself for other students when he was in trouble. Which in his own mind, was ten times better than using a stick or a log. After all, Naruto wasn't the most liked boy in the village and he really didn't like the village all that much, and there were some people in his class that royally pissed him off. Like Ganju.

Ganju was another orphan, and he was fat. Not Akamichi fat, but he was definitely husky. When they lived in the orphanage together, Ganju and several other boys, and even a couple of the girls, had made a game out of stealing toys from him and shoving him to the ground and then throwing dirt at him. Ganju was definitely someone he'd think about switching places with if there was a kunai or shuriken coming towards him.

"-you will also be expected to know and use the Bunshin technique to create two copies of yourself. If you cannot manage to do so, you will fail and be held back for a half a year before being tested again." Arumaki-Sensei explained, looking at Naruto as he said that last part.

Naruto sneered back at the man. He didn't hate Arumaki-Sensei as he did others, but he didn't like the man either. The man had used him as an explanation when things went wrong on missions.

"_You need to know how to throw kunai and shuriken effectively, if you don't, you may find yourself dying at the hands of our enemies. Let's say that Uzumaki Naruto was on a mission. His mission was to find information on an enemy hideout and he accidentally tripped over a bright orange water barrel with florescent hot pink kanji on it, in the middle of a sunny day; and falls into the wall. The wall, being made of thin ply wood, breaks as he falls into it and he lands in the middle of the enemy group. Now, Naruto is able to get to his feet before the enemies start throwing kunai and shuriken at him, but they are taller than him and therefore are able to out run him in time. Without knowing how to throw kunai and shuriken properly, Naruto lobs one of the aforementioned weapons and it sails off course…and hits and kills a royal's daughter. Now, not only is he running from enemy nin, but a angered father and his guards who chase Naruto to a cliff, where he decides to jump to his death…However, because of being so close to the enemy nin, the royal asks them who's village he was from and they tell him Konohagakure. He soon gets a mission profile written and asks Iwa or Kumo to attack us for his stupidity. That is why you need to know how to throw these weapons properly."_

"There is also no redo's for the Bunshin portion of the exam. This means if you fail once, you're done. Will be asked to leave the testing room and go home for the long weekend and then return nest Tuesday and apply for a half season." Arumaki-Sensei instructed. "Now, because it is getting late, I have asked help from two other instructors to help in the testing portions of the next few tasks. Umino Iruka will handle the students who have passed their field tests, which will include a brief spar with a graduated Genin and accuracy test in throwing weapons. Mizuki will be handling those of you who have finished the field tests and test you on your jutsu. Now, everyone line up and be ready to enter the field test area when your name is called."

Naruto sighed as he stood up along with everyone else and headed towards the back door of the classroom. If it was anything like the last time he took the test, he would probably be one of the last ones to take the test. All he could do was wait. Well…there were other things he _could_ do while he waited to be tested…but he really wanted to pass this time…and if he pranked anybody, then he wouldn't be able to pass. Arumaki-Sensei had no sense of humor.

--

In a country like Hi no Kuni, the temperature was almost always a comfortable seventy-nine degrees, save for a few months of the year when it was slightly colder; but even so, the most anyone had to wear during those slightly cool months to keep warm and comfy was a long sleeve shirt made of light material. So when a person wearing a thick and heavy looking black cloak, riding on a midnight black horse made their way through Hi no Kuni, they earned several odd looks from those they were passing by.

The person on the back of the midnight black horse, pulled the reins back a bit and willed the horse to slow down as they neared a fork in the road. There was a small sign just in front of the fork, and the mounted person stopped to read it. After reading it, the person looked to the north and then to the south. Finally, the person looked to the west, and gently prodded the horse to make it move forward. The horse whinnied quietly as it began to move forward once more.

"_I know, but it is too risky to run in the day…I don't want you to become too hot and then get sick. We still haven't found her. If she isn't here, then we have to continue on. We can't afford to waste any more time than we already have."_ The person told the animal, who in response, shook its head from side to side quickly, as if saying that it wouldn't become ill. _"You may want to risk it, Gekiryu, but I don't."_ the rider told the stubborn animal.

'_Konohagakure…what kind of a hidden village has signs posted along the road pointing in their direction…_ "Konohagakure: ten miles west! Come kill us!"_…it's a wonder how they've managed to survive so long…'_ the person sniffed at the thought.

--

Uzumaki Naruto…wasn't having such a good time. He had passed his field test with relative ease, showing Arumaki-Sensei, who had just so happened to be watching when it was his turn, that he had improved a lot since the last time he had taken the exam. He didn't do as well in his spar as he would have hoped, but he did better than his opponent had expected. He managed to land three solid blows to the Genin's mid-section which took a lot of his power and speed out of him. Unfortunately, Iruka-Sensei called the match after that. He managed to net a total score of seventy-nine percent in the accuracy portion of the test too, which was a slight improvement over last year's exam; and a new portion of the test, an obstacle course, had tripped him up a couple of times, but didn't hamper his scores too badly.

But now, he was back inside the academy building, in a secluded room, standing in front of Mizuki-Sensei, a man with silver hair and a small smile on his face; getting ready to take the last portion of the exam. The jutsu portion of the exam…the make it or break portion.

He was confident in his henge skills, and he was sure he could manage to pull off kawarimi…but bunshin…he wasn't so sure about that one. Out of the three jutsu they were taught in the academy, bunshin was something he could never get right. He could manage to make one clone and have it look sort of look like him…that is, if he had a cow's nose in real life… But he could never make more than two and have one look correct…and he couldn't figure out why.

"Alright, Naruto-Kun;" the silver haired sensei spoke up as he ruffled through some papers, obviously looking for his grade sheet to mark down his scores for this portion of the exam. "Arumaki-Sensei explained this once before, but due to all of today's excitement, I thought it would be best to remind you how you pass or fail this part of the exam. You can only pass if you manage to correctly utilize all threes academy ninjutsu; henge, kawarimi and bunshin. If you cannot manage to correctly utilize any ONE of these three ninjutsu, then you will not be allowed to pass and will be sent for a six month period of extra instruction. Do you understand?"

"Hai." Naruto replied, wanting nothing more for the silver haired man to shut up and let him begin. He didn't know the man in front of him, he had seen him in the halls once or twice, but had never spoken to the man. Because he had never spoken to him before, he didn't know how to think about the man, but the way he stressed the word 'ONE' in the explanation, seemed kind of weird. Unless, he was just trying to motivate him into doing better. _'Jiji is the only one who motivates me...Well, him Ichiraku-Jiji and Ayame-Chan…'_ All his other sensei seemed to dislike him for some reason. _'Of course…maybe he's just different? Yeah…different…'_

"Alright!" the silver haired man exclaimed with a broad grin. "Ready to get started?"

"Hai!" Naruto cheered, pumping a fist in the air as he did so.

"Alright…first up, Kawarimi…I'm going to throw this rubber ball at you," Mizuki said as he stood up and showed a small, grey rubber ball to Naruto and moved beside his desk. "And if it hits you and not something else, like a chair, then you fail. Now, get ready…one…two…three!" With that, Mizuki threw the rubber ball at Naruto, not as hard as he could have, but just enough that it would hurt if it hit him.

Seeing the projectile coming towards him, Naruto began to make the necessary hand seals to perform kawarimi. If he pulled it off, he would switch places with one of the spare chairs in the room.

As the ball flew towards him, Naruto closed his eyes and called out the name of the jutsu, "Kawarimi!" and in the blink of an eye, right before the ball smacked into him, Naruto found himself next to the other spare chair, letting the chair he had switched places with to take the attack.

The ball hit the back of the chair with a loud smack before flying off towards the left and landing somewhere on the floor of the small room.

Smiling at him, Mizuki went back to the small desk in the room and took out a pencil and recorded that Naruto had successfully passed that portion of the exam.

"Congrats, Naruto-Kun!" the man praised him, earning a small amount of blush and a grin from the boy. "Only two more things to do…are you ready?" when Naruto nodded vigorously, his smile grew as well. "Haha, alright!" he exclaimed before looking at the paper. "The next item on the list is Henge."

"I can do that no problem!" Naruto replied with a large, bright smile and a thumbs up. "What do you want me to henge into?"

"Hmm…Let's see…" Mizuki hummed for a moment, pursing his lips together and moving them around in a thinking manner. "How about…you henge into…a spider…"

"A spider?" Naruto asked. "Why a spider?"

"Because…" Mizuki said, leaning in close to Naruto. With grin, he whispered to him. "Arumaki-Sensei is scared of spiders…you could crawl up onto his desk later tonight and scare him!"

Naruto blinked for a moment…and then, after a minute of silence, a large, but mischievous broke out onto his face. _'Payback for using me in all your lectures, Old Geezer!'_ he thought as he nodded. "Alright!" He yelled excitedly. "I'm gonna scare the pants right off of him!" without waiting for a command to start, he brought his hands together and started to form seals. Within less than twenty-seconds, Mizuki was staring at a small, black and brown spider with fuzzy legs. The spider crawled around on the floor for a moment before changing back into the blonde, who immediately smiled at him. "How was that?" He asked.

"Great!" Mizuki said with a large smile. "But when you trick Arumaki-Sensei, you should try for a spider called a 'Black Widow'…its small, black and has a red hour glass on its thorax. That should scare him good!" with a snicker, Naruto couldn't help but wonder how fun classes would have been in Mizuki had taught them and not Arumaki-Sensei.

"And now…for the last part of the exam, Naruto-Kun,…Bunshin. Please make two bunshin, Naruto-Kun." Mizuki stated calmly, breaking Naruto out of his thoughts. Though he didn't know it, Naruto's face had become slightly pale upon hearing the word.

'_It's alright, you can do this!'_ he told himself as he prepared. His brow deep in concentration, Naruto began to pull chakra into his coils and began to call out the name of the jutsu.

"BUNSHIN NO JUTSU!"

For a moment, there was nothing…and then, there was a large white cloud of smoke.

Naruto was nervous…Bunshin was his worst jutsu. He had NEVER been able to pull it off. Not even once. He didn't want to open his eyes…and thanks to Mizuki-Sensei, he didn't have to.

"…I'm sorry, Naruto-Kun...You didn't pass. I'm sorry." Mizuki said, his voice soft. "Please return on Tuesday for remedial classes…" With that, Mizuki watched the boy slowly slink out of the room…an amazing feat, considering that his eyes were still closed.

--

He didn't see how bad his bunshin were, he didn't need to. When Mizuki-Sensei told that he didn't pass, he kept his eyes closed and turned around and barely heard the man tell him to return on Tuesday. Unlike last year, when he failed, he didn't go and sit on the lone swing in the Academy's front yard. He heard enough whispering when he failed last year while sitting there. He didn't want to hear the whispering again. Instead, Naruto wandered around the village in a silent funk.

'_Why? Why can't I make it work?'_ he asked himself as he wandered about. _'I made Henge work! I got Kawarimi to work! So, why can't I make Bunshin work?'_ he was so lost in thought, that he didn't notice Mizuki-Sensei approach him. It wasn't until the man put a hand on his shoulder, that Naruto noticed him. "Mi-Mizuki-Sensei?" he asked, wondering why the man had sought him out.

"Naruto-Kun…come with me. I have something to tell you…" with a small nod, Naruto followed him.

--

The mini interrogation session didn't last too long and it wasn't too bad. The only thing that made it annoying was the fact that they, the two Chuunin, spoke in rhymes and finished or started sentences for the other, making it hard to answer some of their questions. For the most part, they left Gekiryu alone, only making a round around the horse once, before letting the pass.

They had gotten into the village several minutes passed 2pm, and had immediately sought out a place to sleep for the remainder of the afternoon. The cloaked figure, person, had been resting lightly since getting the room. If this had been any other place, any other village, the cloaked person would have began their search for what they were looking for as soon as entering the village. However, Hidden Villages were different than most villages. One had to ask for permission, and then receive permission to look around for someone or something that may or may not be in their village. It created less hassles that way.

A sudden noise brought the cloaked person from their light resting. Getting up off the couch, and made their way towards the balcony. Moving the curtains aside, the sight of a young blonde boy with a very large scroll on his back and pressed himself against the window, greeted the tenant.

With a sigh, the person moved a pale hand to the windowed door and tapped in, successfully gaining the boy's attention…who soon turned around and met the cloaked person's non-visible eyes. Said person, saw two things that surprised them about the boy. One was the clan marker on the boy's right shoulder…and the second…was the fact that he was making hand seals.

Before the cloaked person could do anything, the boy called out something and suddenly, there was a small cloud of smoke. Within a second, the cloud of smoke started to dissipate, leaving a taller, slender and downright beautiful blonde girl, maybe about sixteen years old…with no clothes.

'_What the?'_ the cloaked person asked mentally. The naked blonde's eyes widened when whatever he/she was expecting to happen, didn't happen. Before the cloaked person could do anything, the naked girl exploded into a cloud of smoke. Almost as soon as the smoke cloud appeared, it left…leaving the balcony empty. _'Did I just get flashed…by a pervert?'_ If one could see the cloaked figure's eyes, one could tell that they were angry and filled with hate. _'That little shit!'_ with that thought, the cloaked person turned around, and ran towards the door, grabbing something and left the room.

--

Naruto was not having a good time…no, most definitely not. This test had been easy so far, and no one had seen him with the scroll…until he landed on that one balcony to evade what could have been a ninja making his or her rounds around the village. Maybe he landed a bit too hard…or maybe the scroll hit the glass of the door a little too hard, but not even a minute after landing on the balcony, a cloaked figure, pale as pale could be, appeared and knocked on the glass between the them. He didn't know if it was a man or a woman, but he decided to use his own original jutsu…he transformed…only for the figure to remain standing.

'_Crap!'_

That had been almost ten minutes ago, and he had been running as fast as he could to get to the final area, where he would meet Mizuki-Sensei with the scroll, pass the exam and finally become a ninja.

As the sea of trees began to part, Naruto found a small shack, and ran behind it. With his back flat to the shack's outer southern wall, Naruto allowed a small smile to worm its way onto his face. With a bit of effort, he swung the scroll off of his shoulder and placed if carefully on the ground beside him.

'_Mizuki-Sensei said that I had to retrieve the scroll and bring it here…'_ Naruto said to himself as he panted, trying to catch his breath after his long run. _'He never said not to open it…'_

Even though his chest was still rising and falling quickly, he decided that he was recuperated enough, and carefully moved the scroll in front of him and slowly began to open it. There was a small hiss or what he thought must have been chakra that was emitted by the scroll as he broke the seal. Naruto, having been standing when he started to open the scroll, sunk to his knees as he began to unroll the large scroll.

His eyes widened in disbelief as he read the first thing written down on the scroll.

_KAGE BUNSHIN_

"Kage-Bunshin!?" the blonde couldn't help but shout aloud. "It allows the user to create solid clones that can think independently from the user. These clones can fight and use jutsu. These clones can only take one solid hit before it dissipates." Naruto read aloud. He thought about it for a moment. Suddenly, with a frown on his face, he scoffed. "Lame…one hit? Nope." Skipping that once, he continued on down the list of jutsu in the large scroll.

_SHURIKEN KAGE BUNSHIN_

_Makes one shuriken into twelve, and like the weapon,_

_these shuriken are real enough to deal damage and even kill_

"Kage-Shuriken Bunshin, huh?" Naruto wondered. "If it works with shuriken…then it should work with kunai too…" he paused for a moment. _'If I can't make a regular bunshin, then can I even make a bunshin of a shuriken?'_

"_You'll never know, if you don't try…"_ The words that Hokage-Jiji told him two months ago when he went to complain about not being able to perform the Kawarimi technique reverberated in his head.

"I guess so…" Naruto told himself quietly before looking at the hand seals. "The seals seem easy enough…" With that, Naruto stood up, and took a few steps away from the scroll and started to practice the jutsu.

--

'_Damn pervert!'_ the cloaked figure hissed mentally as they searched from horse back through the forests that dotted the outskirts of the village. _'Just wait till I get my hands on him!'_ the horse, Gekiryu, huffed in a irritated manner and tugged on the reins, whoever had made his owner wake him up, was going to get a nice, dirty hoof print as a new tattoo on their face.

--

Naruto, dirty and tired from training, was happy to see the fruit of his labors had paid off. It seemed that Kage-Shuriken-Bunshin was not nearly as tough as the regular bunshin that they taught at the academy. Maybe it was because it was making copies of small weapons and not a life sized copy of himself? However, it really didn't matter to him too much, and maybe he could go back to the Academy in the morning and talk with Arumaki-Sensei and show him this new jutsu and be allowed to pass.

Sitting down for a moment, Naruto scanned his surroundings briefly. He thought that Mizuki-Sensei would have come by now to inform him that he had passed. _'Oh well…'_ he told himself with a sigh. _'I've pretty much got the hang of that jutsu…I wonder what else the scroll has in it?'_ with that train of thought on his mind, Naruto got up and made his way over to the large scroll and tugged on the unrolled portion gently and watched as more techniques were revealed to him.

As he read, his face quickly became a myriad of expressions. The scroll had seemingly run out of 'cool, awesome' jutsu and was showing information about other jutsu, including a technique that summoned an astral fox spirit that would serve summoner until it had either fulfilled its task or until told to leave. If Konohagakure hadn't been attacked by the Kyuubi no Kitsune twelve years ago, he would consider trying that one out. However, because of the demon's attack, he decided against it.

About five minutes of searching through the scroll, he thought he had found all the cool jutsu and techniques...until he came across a rather large submission in the scroll.

It was about a square foot in size on the scroll, and was walled by a large seal. Apparently, from the description, it was a strange storage scroll of some kind.

'_It's huge!'_ Naruto thought to himself as he looked at the intricate symbols on the seal. "I wonder what's in it?" Looking around the storage seal, he quickly found the hand seals and instructions for summoning the contents of the storage seal. With a large smile on his face, Naruto got to work.

"Let's see…before performing the necessary seals, smear a bit of blood directly in the middle of the seal." As Naruto started to perform the seals, he didn't notice that he had inadvertently moved a little closer to the scroll, and because of that, he didn't see that his left knee was covering a small portion of the scroll…

Biting his thumb and letting a bit of blood to form on the small appendage, he brought his right hand down on top of what he thought was the exact middle of the seal and waited with a grin plastered on his face…however, nothing seemed to be happening. As his smile began to fade, Naruto saw a small plume of smoke start to rise from the middle of the seal. He thought about moving back a bit, just in case whatever was about to be released was large, a large cloud of smoke appeared, making him both cough and close his eyes.

The smoke lasted for a minute, maybe a little longer than that, before it started to dissipate, and Naruto continued to cough until the smoke had fully dissipated. When he opened his blue eyes, he saw something he was clearly not expecting. And the frown on his face was a mirror of what he thought of what had been summoned from the storage seal.

"That's it? A sword?" he asked rather loudly. "If I wanted a sword, I would have bought one…" He was hoping for something cool, like possibly a bottomless bowl of never aging ramen or something. _'Besides, I don't even know how to use a sword…Oh well…I guess I'll just put it back or something.'_ So, with that thought running through his head, Naruto grabbed the sword, pulled it out of the sheath, and gave it an once-over look.

It was large, and rather bulky, and kind of heavy. It was unlike the swords he had seen in the shops back in the village, and it was a slightly different color as well. It definitely wasn't a katana; that was for sure. The hilt was left sparsely decorated, with only a wave like pattern that made its way from the guard to the pummel. The blade its self was about two inches wide and relatively thin, but still thicker than the blade of a katana. It was about two and a half feet in length, but unlike a katana, it was a double edged sword. Both sides of the blade were sharpened. This meant the blade probably meant for short reversing strikes, meaning it could be swung back and forth rather than needing to be turned around before swinging it again. The tip was pretty sharp too. The metal that made the blade was also a different color than the katana he had seen too. It sort of had a blue hue to it, and had an odd stripe of shiny metal running down the middle of the sword from hand-guard to blade-tip. _'Strange, I didn't see that when I first looked at it…'_ Naruto thought as he stared at the stripe of shiny metal. It looked blue…but without the light of the sun or a candle, he couldn't really tell. So, with a small shrug, he decided to place the blade back in its sheath and re-seal it before Mizuki-Sensei came.

Looking back down at the seal, a thought entered his mind. "Uh…how do I put it back?" Thinking about it for a moment, Naruto tried all sorts of ideas, even just placing the sword back on the seal and re-doing the hand seals that he had followed to un-seal the sword. _'Nah…can't be that simple…'_ He wasn't that stupid…he knew that there had to be some sort of trick to it. After about two minutes of thinking about how to re-seal the weapon, he sighed hotly and stood the sword with the bottom of the sheath, which was tipped in metal, and had a blunt tip, on the paper of the scroll and pushed some chakra into it and pushed the weapon down into the scroll.

He was hoping that while pushing chakra into the sword and then pushing it into the scroll, that the sword would be once again sealed within the scroll…however, that was not to be the case…as the sound of something ripping could be heard.

His eyes, which he had closed while starting to push the sword into the scroll, snapped open. At first, he didn't want to look down…but soon he found himself looking down at his knees and at the scroll to find the blunt end of the sheath pushing straight through the scroll and starting to embed itself into the ground. For the first time in his life, Naruto's face paled as he thought about the Sandiame Hokage…

"Shit…" _'I'm screwed!'_ Naruto thought to himself as he jumped to his feet, leaving the sword sticking out of the scroll. As he backed away from it, he saw some kanji, small kanji, where his left knee had been. Slowly moving forward, he squinted hard and carefully read what it said.

_To reseal the content of this seal_

_just perform the seals used for the summoning while_

_placing the sword on the seal_

"DAMN IT!"

--

The cloaked figure atop Gekiryu slowly called the horse to a stop and told him to be quiet. Normally, Gekiryu would have instantly shook his head and mane, and whinny loudly…but there was something about his master's tone of voice that made him think twice.

The figure sat straight in the saddle and slowly moved their head from side to side, as if straining to hear something. After nearly a minute of listening, the figured gently pushed a heel into the horse's side, letting it know that it was time to move again. With a slightly annoyed sounding huff, the large black horse started forward.

For another several hundred feet, the two continued through the forest, but found no signs of the blonde haired boy who had disrupted their sleep, and the cloaked person was just about to give up in trying to find the blonde haired boy, when the sound of a shout broke through the woods.

There was something odd about the shout, and both human and horse knew it. To the horse, it sounded panicked, like a young colt that had been attacked by a predator. The human, even wrapped in the heavy black cloak, could tell that that kind of shout usually escaped human lips when something had either grabbed them, or had attacked them without prior notice. It sounded shocked and scared. Something was happening that shouldn't be happening.

"_Well, Gekiryu…do you want to see what's going on?"_

The horse didn't make a sound as it turned towards the direction where the shout had come from, and without so much as a hoof pawing at the ground, the large black animal charged off towards the direction.

--

He thought of himself as a relatively smart man, after all, he was offered a position to teach the next generation of shinobi at the academy. He also thought that he was a relatively smart man for finally coming up with a plan that would do what many in the village had thought about doing, but had never actually tried to do. He had not only thought up the plan, but set in action, and he was just about to see it bear fruit. Mizuki looked down at the stunned and shocked blonde with a cruel smile adorned on his face. It was a magnificent sight…and the only thing that would make it even more magnificent, was beautiful red blood flowing from all the holes that were soon about to be created on the blonde's body.

"That was a lucky block, Naruto-Kun…" he said slowly. "If you didn't have that sword with you, then my shuriken would have embedded itself deep in your chest."

"M-M-Mizuki-S-Sensei!" the boy stuttered, falling on his rear as he did so. "W-Why?"

"Why?" Mizuki asked. "Why what?"

"Why'd you throw that at me?" Naruto asked.

"Why not?" the silver haired man asked, his cruel smile only growing larger as he stared at the boy down on the forest floor. "You took the scroll…and it's my job to return it."

"B-But you said-" Naruto was interrupted as the man launched himself out of the tree, throwing a kunai at the blonde as he did so. Naruto was able to roll out of the way of the projectile, but wasn't able to keep his eyes on the silver haired man at the same time.

Mizuki had launched himself from the tree branch he had been standing on when he threw the overly large shuriken, a Demon Windmill Shuriken to be exact, and landed behind Naruto. He had lazily thrown a kunai at the boy to keep his attention from himself as he flew through the air. As soon as he touched ground, he turned and delivered the rolling blonde a nasty soccer kick, which, due to Naruto still rolling from the kunai, landed right underneath the boy's right arm, and a disgusting crunch could be heard as a result. The blonde didn't keep quiet about the attack or the resulting breaking of one or more of his ribs either.

"GAH!"

"I know what I said, Naruto-Kun…" the silver haired man stated as he walked around the boy's shivering figure. "But, I never thought that you'd be so stupid to fall for it. Obviously being sealed did something to your intelligence."

"W-What…sealing?" Naruto asked, pain wracking his body as he did so.

"That's right…you wouldn't be able to remember…especially not after what the Sandaime did to you after the sealing." Mizuki started, stopping right in front of Naruto and squatting down in front of his stomach. "You see, Naruto-Kun, you weren't always a little boy…in fact, you never were a boy."

"W-Wha?"

"You see, Naruto-Kun…twelve years ago, the Kyuubi no Kitsune attacked Konohagakure. You, along with all your little classmates were told that the Yondaime killed it in battle." Mizuki started to explain. "But what you don't know; is the fact that the Yondaime Hokage could have _never_ killed such a monster. No human ever could. So, he did what he thought would be the next best thing."

"W-What…ha-happened?" Naruto asked slowly and painfully.

"He sealed it…" Mizuki said, drawing the answer as long as he could, torturing the blonde, quivering mass in front of him. "The Yondaime sealed the Kyuubi inside a baby…a new born baby boy with blonde hair…"

"M-Me?"

"No…not you…" Mizuki said, his smile turning into a devilish grin and his eyes narrowed in perverse glee before continuing. "After all, what kind of baby, what kind of human could survive having a demon like the Kyuubi sealed inside it? No…the Yondaime tried to seal it inside a new born baby boy with blonde hair…but the demon was too strong…and it ended up killing the baby and taking over its body for its own use!" the last part was said in such a sick way, that the silver haired man's voice actually seemed to elevate in pitch with each slayable. "_You_ are the Kyuubi no Kistune! _You_ stole the life and body of a small, defenseless infant just so _You_ wouldn't die!" the man was cackling now, his delight in telling the boy about his past painted all over his body. Standing up, the silver haired man locked his eyes with the blue ones of Naruto. "_And you…keep telling everyone your name is Uzumaki Naruto…You make me _SICK!" with that, the man drew back his right leg and then sent if flying into the boy's stomach, making the boy turn over onto his right, broken side. The action made the boy scream out in pain before the boy coughed out several large amounts of blood.

Mizuki smiled cruelly as he walked around the injured blonde and made his way to the scroll and the sword lying not too far from it. "Ooh…look at what the Kyuubi did!" he exclaimed, looking at the noticeable hole in the scroll. "He damaged a relic!" the silver haired man started to reach for the sword as he turned around to look at Naruto again. "What do you think your punishment should be, huh Naruto-Kun?" said blonde was in too much pain and agony to respond to the crazed Chuunin, and opted to lay there, silently crying in pain. "What's that? Can't think of one?" the man taunted. "Well, I think I can help you out there…" Mizuki closed his right hand around the hilt of the double edged sword and slowly stalked over to the boy's prone figure. Once he was right behind him, he stopped and chuckled.

"The punishment shall be…" the man started, slowly raising the sword over his head. "DEATH!" with that said, the silver haired man brought the sword down as fast as he could, at an angle that would have created a large amount of blood splatter. However, milliseconds before the sword would have severed the boy's head from his body, Mizuki's right hand started to steam and sizzle. The silver haired man winced, and tried to hold onto the blade until the deed was done…but the pain was too much for him to bear. With a shout of agonizing pain, he let the blade drop, which quickly turned in the air and landed on the blonde's neck, the flat side facing the pain riddled man.

"SSSHHH!" the silver haired man hissed as he shook his hand around in the air, the pain refusing to subside. "SHIT! WHAT IS THIS PAIN?!" Taking a look at his right hand, he saw puss and blisters forming and popping at a rapid rate. In the dim light of the moon, he could manage to make out a liquid like substance slowly moving down his arm. "A-Acid?" he asked himself, taking several staggering steps away from the blonde and the sword that now lay on top of the blonde's neck.

Mizuki wasn't stupid. He knew what to do if he had been in contact with acid. Without wasting anymore time, he quickly looked down and grabbed his canteen and quickly pulled the stopper out of the nozzle and turned it over his right hand. The water was doing the trick, diluting the acid and its burning properties and cooling his hand off. As he waited for the full amount of water to empty its self from the canteen, Mizuki cast a hating, loathing glare at both the sword and the boy it rested upon.

Feeling the effects of the water fading, he looked at the canteen and realized that it was now out of the cool, cleansing liquid. Turning his gaze back to the blonde in front of him, and with an ugly look on his face, he reached his left hand for the large weapon on his back. His spare Demon Windmill Shuriken. Fondling the center ring of the large projectile in his hand, he smiled and opened his mouth.

"Naruto-Kun…" he purred with a sadistic glee. "You…FAIL!" As he shouted, he swung his left arm forward, his fingers itching to let loose the large, and now spinning weapon at the blonde, when a sound broke his concentration. Turning around, he saw nothing at first, but still heard the sound. He stopped feeding the giant shuriken chakra and it stopped spinning as fast as it had been, allowing him to hear what was coming.

'_There!'_ he told himself and with a short burst of chakra, the shuriken lurched back into high speed, creating a loud hum as it did. Not waiting a second longer, he hurled the weapon from his left hand into the darkness, towards the gradually increasing sound. There was clanging of metal, and then the sound stopped. Mizuki let a smile take over his facial features, and started to turn back to Naruto, to end it, when there was an ear splitting shriek of a large, enraged animal. He whipped back around, his eyes large in fear…and then he saw it. In the dim light of the pale moon, charged a large black horse, and a medium sized cloaked figure, with a short sword glinting in the moon light, raised above the horse's head.

He was so entrapped by the sight of the horse and its rider, that Mizuki didn't notice how close the two were until it was entirely too late. He tried to duck the coming blow, but the blade was already in descent. It came down the left side of the horse from the wielder's right hand and then with a lightning quick flash of moonlit steel, up again. Mizuki let a roar of pain escape his mouth, but that was all he could do, as the rider's left foot flew out and caught the left side of his head. He was already knocked out as he fell to the cold forest floor.

The rider, who had pulled on the reins of the steed to stop it, cast a glance around the small forest clearing. The man with the silver hair had thrown the large shuriken at the horse, which earned the man a one way ticket to sleepy-bye land; but it didn't answered the question of why he was out here. Or it didn't until the rider heard the horse whinny and huff at something in front of it.

Hopping down from the large black horse, the rider walked out in front of the large animal and let a startled gasp at what was in front of the animal. A beaten, and battered young kid, curled up in a ball, a shuddering ball. Walking closer to the kid, the rider could smell the blood in the air, and hurried over to the kid. Kneeling down by the kid's back, the rider gently pulled the kid's left shoulder slightly and felt their face drain at the sight. There was a blonde boy, with an odd sword resting near his neck, with a large amount of blood draining from his mouth.

'_The pervert from the balcony…'_ the cloaked rider thought. _'But what's he doing out here?'_

"_Hey, kid, kid!"_ the words only met a weak gargled groan. _'Shit!'_ Digging a hand into a hidden pocket, the cloaked person withdrew a small vial of purple liquid and quickly shook it. After ten seconds of shaking the vial, the cloaked person carefully removed the cork stopper in the nozzle and searched for the boy's mouth. It was full of blood, and it was hard to imagine why the kid hadn't chocked to death on his own blood. Carefully grabbing the kid's cheeks, the rider pushed them together in an effort to drain some of the blood. As a small river of blood fell from his mouth, the rider noticed a blue eye opening and blearily gazing at the vial in the rider's left hand.

"_Can you push some of the blood out of your mouth with your tongue?"_ the blue eye shut, and for a moment, the rider wasn't sure or not if the boy had either heard or understood what was asked of him. But slowly, a slightly larger waterfall of blood cascaded down the boy's chin, and the rider could see the kid's tongue slowly retreating back from the front of his mouth. Not wasting any more time, the rider took the vial and placed the nozzle in the boy's mouth and slowly, but loudly explained what needed to be done. _"I need you to drink as much of this as you can…It will help. Understand? Drink as much as you can."_ The boy didn't open an eye, but his tongue didn't stand in the way of the purple liquid that slowly drained from the vial and into his mouth.

The rider watched as a slow, and haggard bulge slunk down the boy's throat. As several more slow and haggard gulps followed, the rider sank back a bit in relief. _'As much as that stuff reeks and for as much as it costs, it's healing properties are astounding…Well worth the money…'_

As the boy's gurgled breathing began to stop, a sign that the contents of the vial were working, or hopefully working, the rider looked at the sword that now lay on the ground in front of the boy.

'_What an odd design…'_ the rider pointed out mentally. _'And oddly familiar too…but where have I seen it before?'_ The sound of shout broke the rider out of any mental processes. Looking around swiftly, the rider looked back to the large black horse and then down at the boy and the sword. Again, a shout came, from the north of their location. _'That silver haired man tried to kill this kid…what's stopping the others from doing the same?'_ the rider asked mentally. _'I can fight off maybe two or three and keep the kid safe, but not anymore than that…and even less if they're Jonin…'_ With that thought, the rider slowly and carefully picked up the sword and stuck it in the dark cloak before picking the boy up carefully, so as not to reopen any wounds.

The boy was extremely light for his size, which may have hinted at malnutrition, but the rider thanked whatever Kami was awake that night that the boy wasn't any heavier. It was a struggle to pick the boy up and the sword at the same time. As the rider maneuvered back on the back of the horse, a thought ran through the rider's mind. _'The sheath…where is it?'_ as the rider looked around for the sword's sheath, there was a rustling in the bushes that sent the horse into a slightly worried state of mind.

"_Gekiryu…calm down."_ The rider spoke softly, though the words came out just as worried as the horse had acted. _'Where is that damned sheath?'_ the rider thought as the rustling became louder and louder. Suddenly, as if had pointed a torch at it, the rider saw the feint glint of metal sticking out of the ground. Forcing the horse closer to it, even in the dark, the outline of the sheath could be seen. Making sure that the boy was firmly in place, the rider pressed the side of the horse rather sharply, making it jolt forward. As the horse moved forward, the rider bent down slightly to the left and picked up the sheath to the odd sword now in the confines of their cloak, and started heading east.

As the horse, rider and injured guest made off into the night, two people burst forth from the bushes. One of them was an older man, about forty years old, with a green Chuunin vest over his chest and a small tanto held out in front of him. The other was a younger woman, of about twenty-six years old with a green Chuunin vest over an odd scroll designed dress of sorts.

"Mizuki!" the older man shouted as he ran towards the fallen, unconscious man. "Mizuki!"

"Arumaki-San!" the younger woman barked, earning the older man's attention. As he looked at her, he saw the pale white paper like canvas that made up the outer layer of the Forbidden Scroll.

"Take that to the Tower, Yuuhi-San!" the older man ordered. "I'll take Mizuki to the hospital!"

"Hai!" the younger woman barked before leaving the area with the scroll, headed back towards the village, Arumaki looked around the area for a moment before shaking his head before bending down and struggling to pick Mizuki up. It took a bit of effort, but the older man was able to pick the younger man up and put him over his shoulder before shunshined towards the hospital.

--

As the cloaked rider and the horse made their way out of the forest with the injured boy, the rider took a slightly closer look at the sheath of the sword. _'If the sword hadn't been on the boy, I would have left it.'_ The rider thought as the horse knowingly made its way onto an old dirt road and continued heading east. Carefully turning the sheath over, the rider found something on the sheath that made the rider nearly lose their breath. _'Th-That insignia!'_ Looking down at the boy lying the rider's legs, the rider made a decision. _"Gekiryu…I think it's about time that we head home…"_

The horse let out a short whinny as it ran faster down the road.

--

"So…Mizuki was lying on the ground knocked out cold; and Naruto was nowhere in sight?" Sarutobi asked the younger man in front of him.

Arumaki nodded slowly. "I don't know how he got away, the ground was literally soaked with his blood…" the academy teacher stated. "But he wasn't anywhere near the scroll…"

"Which was open?" Sarutobi asked, though he knew that. The scroll had been _damaged_…in a place when rolled up, would have been nearly five layers thick. Of course it had been opened. Arumaki nodded.

"Hai, Hokage-Sama…"

Sarutobi sat in his chair for a moment, thinking. _'Did you really steal the scroll Naruto?'_ "Thank you for your efforts Arumaki-San…" Sarutobi said quietly. "…You can go and return home if you wish." Even though Sarutobi had said it with a tone that could have been related to a 'Do-as-you-wish' sort of tones, it was an order, and Arumaki noticed it. He bowed silently before leaving.

Once he was alone in his office, Sarutobi turned around to face the night's sky behind him. _'Why did you do it, Naruto-Kun? Why?'_

It would be three more years before Sarutobi got the answer to that question. Three long and worrisome years.

* * *

Well…there you go…new story, and a long first chapter.

This thing took me a while. Started thinking of this plot almost 6 months ago and have been toying around with it since. I've started this chapter almost 10 times and wrote the middle portion maybe 4 times. The end of it was written late last night, and would have been uploaded last night, but the site was under an 'upgrade' of sorts; so I couldn't upload it when I wanted to. I'm not quite sure I like the end, and I may come back and change it at a later date, but for now it's complete.

I have a hunch that someone is going to complain about the 'Cloaked Figure/Person' and the 'Rider' stuff, but let me tell you; it is hard to keep a character genderless damn it lol. Why genderless? Because I haven't figured out what the gender will be yet…not that it will have much to do with the story or plot anyways. I may flip a coin to decide.

Romance…at first? Probably none, maybe in the future, but I don't know yet. If there is a pairing, I may use a crossover character just so no one feels the need to bitch and moan later on about my choice. Again, this is not set in stone.

Um, according to my little Japanese-English book thingy here…Gekiryu, which is technically spelled wrong, but that's because my laptop doesn't seem to like the little symbols that go on top of letters and what not, other than the 'e' in Saké and the 'o' in Gatô. None of the others seem to want to work… Anyways, according to my little book, Gekiryu means Torrent, as in 'violent stream'.

Yes, the sword will play a part in the story and as will Naruto not learning the Kage-Bunshin jutsu. You'll just have to wait to find out what parts the sword plays and why I didn't make Naruto learn the Kage-Bunshin…I want to keep you guessing.

Again, thanks for reading; I hope you enjoyed reading it too. It was kind of fun to write.

Ja.


	2. Life Debt

Heir of Uzu

* * *

There were some errors in chapter one and I have fixed them. Thanks for pointing my grammatical error out to me, completely missed that one.

Anyways, as one reviewer said that maybe I should make my chapters shorter for faster updates, not all chapters will be 10k in word length. Some will be near or around 10k, but most will probably be…well…who knows? But not all of them will be 10k, that's for sure. I can't promise quick updates for this story, as it takes quite a bit more thought than my other two stories I am currently working on.

Ahem…without further to do…

Disclaimer: I don't own _Naruto_, someone else does…because if I did own it, I wouldn't have let Haku be a cross dressing boy and _she_ would have survived. That, and Marada wouldn't be an active character…he would have died. Long ago…

* * *

It had been nearly two hours of near constant stop and go for the Rider, the horse and their injured companion. Had Konohagakure not been a hidden village, and home to a large amount of shinobi, then they would have come to a rest at an inn less than twenty miles from the village. However, because Konohagakure was just such a place, and did in fact have a large amount of shinobi at their disposal; the Rider thought that maybe an extra twenty or so miles would help.

Currently, the Rider, the horse and the injured and currently resting boy; were coming up upon a small pub. Thankfully there was a torch lit outside the establishment and the Rider could see a couple of other horses in the stable that had been attached to the side of the building some time after its construction. The odd party had slowed considerably since their initial flee from the forests that surrounded Konoha. Looking over head, the Rider couldn't properly guess what time it was, but it was definitely after midnight.

With a few wordless commands, the Rider steered the large black horse towards the stable. As the large horse entered the stable, the Rider counted three other horses. Two of them were properly taken care of, both brown in color and were at the far left and closest to the inn. The other horse was a light tan color and compared to the other two horses on the far left, looked as if it bathed in Ryou. Obviously someone of importance was staying here. Not that the Rider cared. However, Gekiryu did. The large black horse was much like his master. Neither of them liked rich, snobs very much. In fact, if the larger horse wasn't so tired from all the running and galloping, it probably would start to complain. However, he had no real energy left to do so.

The Rider slowly marched the steed into a separate stall, and slowly but carefully began to climb down off Gekiryu, along with the boy in tow.

'_I didn't notice it before…but he's really light.'_ By the light of the torch, out front of the stable area, the Rider could clearly see that the boy was no longer coughing up blood, and since he was breathing, albeit shallowly, he was still alive. _'I guess that stuff really works…'_ Earlier during the flee from the forested area, the Rider heard the boy start to sputter again and thought that maybe the vial of thick purple liquid had failed to work after all. _'I'll have to buy some more, if it can cure internal bleeding and whatnot.'_ With a glance at the horse, who was already half asleep, the Rider sighed tiredly and started for the front of the inn.

--

Sanosuke, no surname, Ronin by choice; had seen many strange things since he had bought his inn and slowly began to fix it up. Over the last six years, he had seen many, many things. He had seen Yakuza and other men from various mobs and gangs march in and literally search every room he had in rent for people who owed them money. He had even played witness to a murder in his inn's lobby. He had seen men and women fall in love here, he had seen them slap each other and break up here. He had played witness to more than two women giving birth on their way to their home town or on their way to another town. He had seen injured men and women, shinobi and samurai run in and demand a room so that they could recuperate or take care of their allies. However, one thing he had never seen before, was a person, shorter than he was, dressed in a dark blue, almost black cloak, carrying a young, and obviously injured teen in the doors of his inn. Especially not at 2am in the morning anyways.

The cloaked figure, who's get up really made it hard to tell if they were male or female, though he was leaning more towards female due to the smaller stature of the figure, which if he would haphazard a guess, would probably be about 5'4" or so. Although, his father was short for a man. Suddenly, Sanosuke felt a smile make its way onto his face. He was really glad that he had obtained his mother's genes when it came to height issues. A 5'1" male trying to make it in the world by himself would be harsh.

Anyways, as the cloaked figure looked around, Sanosuke prepared himself for his late night guests. "Can I help you?" He didn't want to add 'Sir' or 'Ma'am' just in case he guessed wrong.

"_I think so."_ The cloaked figure said…er…rasped.

'_Must be the cloak…'_ Sanosuke told himself as he looked at the boy in the cloaked figure's arms. "He okay?"

"_He had some rather spicy food earlier and accidentally bit his tongue open…I didn't have any cotton balls on hand, but it seems to closed up now."_ The cloaked figure responded.

"Okay." Sanosuke said, thought he wasn't entirely sure he bought it. "I was just wondering. There's a twenty-four hour clinic another five miles south, in the port town." He informed the cloaked person, who nodded gratefully.

"_I need a room…one with two beds if possible."_ The cloaked person stated, shifting the boy's unconscious form around a bit. _"He sleeps like a rock."_

"Ah." Sanosuke said. He was beginning to wonder why the boy was being carried, rather than walking himself. Sure, a bitten tongue hurt, but it didn't really garner rides in someone else's arms. With a quick shake of his head, Sanosuke flipped open a small book and looked for the day's current date. Scrolling down with his finger as a pointer, he searched the rooms and their occupants, both non-living and living. "I have one room with two beds, for 200 Ryou a night." He informed the cloaked person. "Is that okay with you?"

"_Yes…thank you." _The cloaked person bowed their head in thanks. _"Also, I have a horse in your stable outside. I haven't tied him up yet, so if you need to inspect him for feed and water costs, then feel free to accompany me. He doesn't like strangers very well."_

"Okay," Sanosuke stated as he nodded at the cloaked person. Digging through the keys under his desk, he pulled out a small silver colored key and came out from behind the desk and waved the cloaked person to follow.

As he lead the two to their room, though one of them was sleeping at he did so; he couldn't help but get the feeling out of his head that something was going to happen. Something big. Shaking the thought away from his current thought processes, he turned in front of a large oak door and gently put the key into the keyhole and turned it. With a faint click, the lock released and the man opened the door, which opened inwards; and let the cloaked person to bring the sleeping boy inside, flicking the light on as he let them pass. He watched the cloaked person gently lay the boy on one of the beds, which had been donated for not squealing on the Yakuza when they had abducted a high ranking official several months ago. Soon, the cloaked person was heading back towards him.

"Ready?" he asked, which earned him a nod. "Alright."

--

Sanosuke couldn't believe his eyes! He had seen large horses before; after all, there were many different breeds of horse in the world. He had even been treated to a show when a group of foreigners brought over from their lands; far beyond the Elemental Continent's reach, lug two large trees out of a thick forest and to the local mill some many years ago. Those had been the largest horses he had ever seen. The horse in front of him however…Whoo! There was a noble man's horse one empty stall away from the large black horse and it looked like a midget in comparison. The two brown ones at the far end…even smaller.

"Just how much does he weigh?" Sanosuke asked the owner of the horse.

"_Just under a ton."_ The owner stated as they dug around the horse's saddle. When they had entered the stable, they saw that the large black horse was standing in his station and had not opted to move around even though he was not currently tethered to anything.

"A-A ton?" Sanosuke asked, bewildered at the question. Most horses weighed anywhere between 800-1500 pounds depending on the breed! "Just how far under?"

"_Last time he was weighed, which was a couple years ago, he weighed about 1740 pounds."_ The owner of the horse informed the owner of the inn. Though no one could see it, the person under the cloak smirked at the face he made. Turning back to Gekiryu's saddle, the Rider pulled out the sword that had been found with the boy, and hoped down to the floor of the stable before turning around and heading for the inn. _"Need anything else?"_

"N-No…I don't think so…well, maybe a flagon or two…But really? 1740 pounds?" Sanosuke asked.

"_I get that a lot."_ The Rider said with a short chuckle. _"But yeah just about. Maybe a bit more…been lazy the last few months."_ With that, the Rider made their way back into the inn, and shortly thereafter, the room.

As soon as the Rider closed the door to the room, and locking it, the Rider went over to the one empty bed and sat down on it. Casting a glance at the boy on the other bed, the Rider let out a sigh. Standing up once more, the Rider walked quietly over to the boy and picked him up again. Carefully, with one arm, the Rider moved the sheets of the bed down part ways and put the boy under them. Taking the time to undo the boy's jumpsuit, which the underside of it was caked in dried blood, the Rider sighed before discarding the article of clothing on the floor and walked into the bathroom.

After a minute or two in the bathroom, the Rider walked back over to the boy with a wet washcloth and began to gently scrub the dried blood off of his neck and chest. It took a good five minutes or so to get the worst of it off the boy, and by that time, the Rider had decided that the boy could take a shower when he woke up; which would hopefully be tomorrow sometime.

Walking back into the bathroom, the Rider discarded the washcloth in the hamper and then gazed through the dark shadow that the hood of the cloak created and snickered slightly. _"Bags…after all that time searching day and night, the first bit of excitement in the last few years gives me bags…Kami I'm getting weak in my old age."_

Five minutes later, the Rider walked out of the bathroom, and sat back down on the bed and sighed slowly. Taking a minute to collect any wandering thoughts, the Rider reached for the sword and stared at it. It was hard to tell earlier that night…er…morning, what the design looked like, but now, with the light from the ceiling fixture, the Rider could definitely see the designs that marked the weapon.

On the hilt, hard, metal wave like fixtures had been soldered on to the ancient leather. The wave fixtures didn't stay one or two sizes as they covered the hilt; but rather, they actually looked as if they were part of a monstrous swell, rising and crashing into one another. There was nothing else on the leather and metal decorated portion of the hilt; but turning it around, the Rider looked at the butt of the hilt, which, like many double edged blades, had a metal tip. The tip that covered and most likely protected the bottom of the hilt was an odd silver-blue color and was made up of soldered rings of the odd colored metal. At first, it looked like a miniature tornado, with the largest piece of ringed metal soldered to the bottom of the hilt. However, as the Rider looked at the rest of it, the rings became smaller and smaller. As it reached the end of the metal cap, the rings became less and less noticeable. Looking back up at the leather and metal soldered area of the sheath, and then back at the cap; the Rider ruled out the notion that the cap was a miniature tornado, but it was actually a miniature whirlpool.

'_There's no mistaking it…its one of _those_…but how did a kid get his hands' on it?'_ the Rider asked mentally. _'Better yet, why did Konohagakure have it?'_ Leaning over the edge of the bed, the Rider carefully slid the weapon under the bed before taking off their shoes.

Standing up, the Rider went to the head of the bed and pulling the covers down towards the middle of the bed. Standing up, the Rider walked slowly back to the light switch and flicked it off. In the darkness of the room, the Rider slowly and carefully took off the cloak and set it on one of the bed posts, before slowly clambering into the bed for a night's sleep. Or, what was left of the night to sleep through anyways.

--

There were many things in Sarutobi's life that he regretted ever doing. Becoming the Hokage for a second term was one of those things. Another was letting Minato sacrifice himself to seal the Kyuubi no Kitsune into Naruto. He couldn't help but think that if he had sacrificed himself for the village that things wouldn't have turned out the way they had. Of course, he also regretted trying to appease Minato's last wish for his son to be seen as a hero for holding the Kyuubi at bay so the village could survive. If he hadn't told anyone other than his most trusted officials, then maybe Naruto wouldn't have felt the need to steal something so endangering that there was no way he could keep him out of the Bingo Book.

He stared down at the sheet of paper he had ordered produced by T&I and went over it.

Name: _Uzumaki Naruto_  
Rank: _Academy Student_  
Origin: _Konohagakure_  
Known Jutsu: _Henge, Kawarimi_  
Wanted: _Capture/Return-Alive_  
Bounty: _4,500 Ryou_  
Crime: _Attempt of stealing private files and items belonging to the village_

It was a good thing that the Council was no longer integrated between the Clan Heads, high ranking shinobi; and the Civilian Heads. If it was, the Civilian Heads would have demanded that Naruto's bounty be far more than 4,500 Ryou. At first, the Clan Heads had wanted the boy's bounty to be more than what it had settled at, but reluctantly agreed that a lower price would probably be better.

'_And to think, Danzo was the one pushing for Naruto's bounty to be so small. Of course, he and I know that if a child is given a bounty more than 8,000 Ryou, then there is a good chance that the Oi-nin of foreign villages would just capture him and bring him to their village for interrogation.'_ Sarutobi told himself as he slowly put the paper down on his desk. Turning in his chair, so that he could look out the large window behind his desk, he gazed at the forests beyond the walls of the village.

Tsume and her daughter, Hana, recently elected and promoted in the last Chuunin Exams a couple of months ago; had been out near the area where Yuuhi Kurenai and Arumaki had found Mizuki and the scroll. They had returned only a few minutes before the Council had gotten together in their Chambers, and had reported smelling another person, whose smell had mixed with Naruto's, and then left the area via horse. Unfortunately, the trail quickly became too great in distance for a quick capture mission and returned to the tower, but not before taking a vial of Naruto's blood as a sample.

Closing his eyes, Sarutobi brought a hand to his nose and pinched the bridge gently. As he moved his hand away from his nose, there came a knock from the door. Turning around to face the door, he granted the visitor permission to enter.

"Hokage-Sama." A man wearing a doctor's uniform said with a bow. Closing the door behind him, the man walked over to Sarutobi's desk.

"Has he woken up?" Sarutobi asked.

"For a brief period of time, yes." The doctor said tiredly as he took a seat in front of the desk in Sarutobi's office. "I was going to call for you to come…however, he fell asleep before the Chuunin got to the door."

"Mm…" Sarutobi nodded. There was a brief pause before Sarutobi broke the silence. "Did he say anything?"

"Only that he had found the boy, and had started to try and capture him when a horseman attacked him." The doctor confessed. "I asked him if there was anything special about the horseman, but he said he couldn't see anything more than the horse and the blade that the horseman used to attack him."

"And…did he say if he found out why Naruto stole the scroll?" Sarutobi asked.

"He fell asleep before I asked him. He was in a lot of pain and I didn't want to make him repeat what he told me to you; so I opted to wait until you arrived…only for him to…well…" the doctor admitted with a small shrug.

"I see." Sarutobi nodded. "Inform me when he wakes again… But for now, I think it's about time we all got a little rest." The doctor nodded with a small, tired smile. Standing up from the chair, the doctor bowed slightly and with a hand gesture from the Sandaime, he left the room.

Sitting in his chair, Sarutobi turned around and stared out the large window for a bit longer. His mind was full of bits and pieces of information, but for once in his life, he couldn't come up with an answer as to why Naruto would try to steal such an important and dangerous scroll. It also made him wonder how Naruto learned of the scroll. He hadn't told the boy of the scroll, and Arumaki wouldn't have told his classes about such an item. There were only two possible reasons as to how the boy could have learned of it. One, he had overheard someone talking about it while in passing through the Tower. Two, someone told him about it and where it was.

If the latter turned out to be the truth, then Sarutobi and the village of Konoha could be dealing with a traitorous shinobi.

--

There was an odd taste in his mouth. It tasted odd, kind of coppery. Kind of like how blood tasted like. It was a gross taste. He needed to get it out of his mouth as quick as possible. Sitting up, he threw off the covers to the bed he had been sleeping on, and trudged his way towards where his bathroom was…only to run into a wall. His eyes, hazed over, gave him a blurred image of the world around him and it slowed him down in trying to find his way to the bathroom. Less than thirty seconds later, in the dim morning light that slipped through his windows, he found himself in front of the sink. Turning faucet on 'cold', he cupped his hands under the falling water and brought some to his mouth. As soon as he felt the water hit his tongue, he threw his head back and gargled loudly. Dropping his head down into the sink, he spat out a mixture of red and purple gunk. He didn't watch it slip down the sink, opting to get more water to help clear out the disgusting taste of blood.

He was into his fourth gargling, when he noticed that the haze had lifted from his eyes. As he brought his head back down to the sink to spit out the water and whatever else had managed to get in his mouth, he noticed in the large mirror in the bathroom, that there was a person standing in the doorway to the bathroom. While he saw the person in the mirror, his brain didn't react to it…until he started to gargle for a fifth time.

Reacting to the sudden appearance of another person in his house, he spat out the water so fast, that it splashed onto his chest. Whirling around quickly, he pointed his finger at the person, and shouted.

Or tried to anyway.

What came out was little more than a rasping squeaky sound. It left him shocked and slightly embarrassed. The person in the doorway sighed softly and turned around. That was when he realized that the person who was in his room, his house, was a slightly older and slightly taller raven haired woman with a thin scar running down her left cheek.

'_Who the hell is she?!'_

"When you're done hyperventilating, go sit on your bed." The woman said quietly. "We have things to talk about."

--

As she sat on her bed quietly, waiting for the blonde boy to stop hyperventilating, she couldn't help but wonder what kind of shinobi Konohagakure produced if they were so easily startled. Of course, to be fair, she did uproot him and bring him to an unknown location; and last night, whatever had happened for him to earn such a fierce beating from that silver haired man probably didn't help much; even with whatever skills he had.

She quickly glanced at the clock on the stand in between the two beds and then looked back at the blonde in the bathroom. A little while later, she looked back at the clock and then back at the boy…and this time, she let out a sigh.

'_He's been like that for nearly five minutes…I wonder how long he plans on staying like that? Five more? Ten?'_ she wondered to herself. _'No matter, his arm will get tired soon enough…as will his jaw.'_

Four minutes after that thought went through her mind, the boy slowly moved towards the door...and grabbed the door and began to close it.

"I'm not going to answer you if you hide in the bathroom…and you've lost a little too much blood to try squeezing through the bathroom window." She told the boy, who looked at her a little more closely than he had been. For nearly a minute he stood there, moving the door back and forth slightly as if trying to make up his mind. However, curiosity got the better of him and he slowly made his way towards the bed.

She watched the boy closely as he sat on the edge of the bed and pushed himself up against the wall. She noticed that he was having a little trouble breathing. However, with the injuries he had sustained, even the potion she had given him would take longer to sort it all out.

He began to open his mouth, but she held a hand up to keep him silent.

"First off, I'd like to inform you that you were not kidnapped for some nefarious scheme." She started, hoping that that was what the boy was going to ask her. "I brought you here after I save you from that insane silver haired man in the forest last night. He almost killed you." She let her words sink in before she continued. "You had at least one rib that had been broken, that must have punctured through one of your lungs, which is why you are so short of breath and why your throat and mouth tasted like blood when you awoke."

"I stopped him from killing you and saved your life." She informed the blonde, whose ocean blue eyes were wide open.

"_H-How?"_ he managed to rasp out. Naruto knew what a punctured lung could and would do to someone if they didn't go into surgery to remove the rib from the lung. He didn't feel as if he had gone through some complex surgery, and the woman in front of him didn't look like a medic or a surgeon.

The woman looked around the room for a moment, trying to figure a way to tell the blonde how she had saved him. With a quick snap of her fingers, the woman was leaning to her right, almost stretched out as far as she could, and picked up the edge of her cloak. Pulling it up off the bed post, she reeled it in and slowly sat back up. Digging around in her cloak, she pulled out an almost empty vial and held it up so the boy could see it better.

"This vial, used to have a special, magical, concoction inside of it." She began. "It is only made in my homeland, due to the unique plants that grow there, as well as certain animals. It smells nasty and it tastes like vomit, but it fixes, mends and reconstructs areas of the body once ingested. For the lack of better terminology, you were dying, and I forced you to drink it. It did its job, and you managed to survive the night." She studied his face for a moment, and she could see the realization once again dawning upon him.

"_That cloak…you're that person…I…I uh…"_ the boy's train of thought was lost as he started to cough violently, his lungs forcing what was left of the blood out of his body. The woman saw this and got off the bed and went to the bathroom and grabbed a hand towel. Walking back, she handed it to the boy and sat back down. She watched the blonde pick the towel up and tried not to cringe as a small amount of blood washed over the towel. Luckily it was already red, so she could just pretend that there wasn't any at all.

"That you flashed?" she finished for the boy, who nodded meekly. "Yes…I am the person you flashed…" her eyes narrowed at the memory. "Haven't your parents ever taught you not to do such things?" she asked. The boy didn't respond right away…and after a minute or so of near silence, the boy shook his head slowly.

"_Orphan…I'm an Orphan."_ He rasped.

'_His voice is getting better…that's good.'_ The woman thought. An orphan? Still someone should have taught him better manners. "That's no excuse for flashing someone, though." The boy's head seemed to sink lower, almost into his chest in shame and embarrassment. "Shouldn't the matron at the orphanage taught you manners?"

"…_I don't remember."_ The boy said slowly. _"I wasn't really well liked there…no one really talked to me…"_

Ah. So there was a reason for why he had done what he did. "But why flash me?"

"_It was a test…I was supposed to get something…and bring it to a hidden location…I didn't know you were awake…you scared me…and I thought you were a creepy guy wearing a cloak…most guys are perverts…so I used my Orioke no Jutsu…"_ the boy explained slowly. Obviously, it was a little too much for his body to handle, as he broke down into a fit of coughing.

"Alright," the woman started, earning a look from the hacking boy. "You obviously aren't well enough for long periods of talking. So this is what I want you to do; for 'No', shake your head and for 'Yes', nod. Simple enough?" the boy nodded.

"Alright, I'm not a ninja, and I'm not from Konohagakure, okay?" the boy nodded, which earned him a small smile…which brought a small amount of blush to his face. "But don't tests usually take place in the day time?" _'At least in an odd village like Konohagakure?'_ she added mentally. The boy nodded again, this time a little bit more slowly than the first. "So why hold a test at night?" She couldn't really get a verbal answer out of him, but his demeanor changed, and his face fell a little more. "You fail the test or something?" a nod. "Was the night one a makeup test?" a half nod. "How many proctors were there?" the boy held up a single finger. "The silver haired one?" another nod.

Naruto looked at the woman, who had gone silent. Her lips were pursed slightly, and she was looking out the left side of her eyes, her eyebrows furrowed slightly. It was obvious that she was thinking. For a few minutes she stayed like that, occasionally moving her eyes and lips from one side to the other, but still in thought while she did so. Finally, after several minutes or silence, the woman looked back at him.

"Who told you about the makeup?" she asked.

"_Mizuki…"_

"The silver haired man?" the boy nodded. "And there was nobody else involved?" the boy shook his head. Another minute or so of silence passed. "I think you were set up, kid."

"_Huh?"_

"How many times have you tried to take the test?" three fingers. "And how many times were you offered a makeup test?" a shake of his head. "And how many times have you been beaten so violently by the proctor of a test?" another shake of the boy's head. "You were set up. Whatever he had you take from wherever, was so he could either take it and frame you, or just kill you outright." The boy's eyes' became as large as dinner plates at her proclamation. However, soon, they narrowed and a sad expression made its way onto his face. Somehow, the woman thought to herself when she saw the expression, she knew it didn't belong there.

She let him sit and think about everything for a while before she started asking more questions again. He coughed from time to time, but they were coming farther and farther apart. Standing up, she got off the bed and walked into the bathroom. Finding a small cup in the cabinet behind the mirror, she filled it up with water and walked back into the bedroom.

Walking over to him, she held out the cup, and when he looked at her questioning, she told him to drink it in small, slow sips. As he did what he was told, the raven haired woman turned around and walked back over to her bed. However, instead of getting back on it, Naruto realized; she got on one knee and stuck an arm under the bed. Wondering what she was doing, Naruto moved a little closer towards the edge of the bed he had slept in and was currently sitting on, so he might have a better chance at seeing what she was doing.

With a quick tug, Naruto realized that she had pulled out a sword from underneath the bed, and he quickly backed up to the wall again. She seemed nice…but then again, so did Mizuki.

When she turned around, the raven haired woman looked at Naruto, and instantly knew what was going on in his mind. Cursing herself mentally, she stood up and sat back down on her bed and looked at the boy for a moment before looking at the sword. For a while, she didn't say anything. She would look at the sword, and then up at Naruto, and then back at the sword.

After a few minutes, she looked at Naruto and opened her mouth.

"I found this lying on your stomach last night…" she started. Her comment earned an odd look from the blonde but didn't press forward. "This sword…is special. Special in ways most people can't even imagine." She eyes, which were purple, Naruto discovered as the sun decided that it was time for morning to come into full swing, washing the room with light through the blinds over the windows. "Did you have it or did that Mizuki guy have it?"

"I-I did…" Naruto said slowly, his throat only tickling instead of hurting like it had before. "I don't know how it got on me though…"

"Ah." The woman said with a small nod. Closing her eyes, she ran the image through her mind. Insane sensei with something against the blonde, who had already been beaten, must have tried to use it to kill him. Why he hadn't finished? Well…the raven haired woman had her hunch. She wasn't going to say anything to the kid yet…but she had her hunch. "How long have you had it?"

"Not that long…only about twenty minutes before _Mizuki came…"_ he throat decided it was no longer tickle time, but resistance time again. Naruto took a few more sips of water as the woman stared at him oddly.

"Only a few minutes?" Naruto nodded. "Where did you find it then?"

"_The scroll,_ I found it in the scroll Mizuki wanted me to bring to the testing area." Naruto explained. "It was sealed and I un-sealed it…I tried to put it back…so Jiji wouldn't get mad at me…but_ it wouldn't go back in…"_ he left out the part that he had punctured a hole in the scroll while trying to put the sword back.

The raven haired woman wondered who _'Jiji'_ was, but didn't ask. "In the scroll, huh?" she asked. The boy nodded and the woman sighed deeply. The boy looked at her oddly, but didn't ask. And once again, the room fell into silence. After a few minutes, the raven haired woman stood up, placed the sword on the bed and walked towards the bathroom and shut the door. They had been up for nearly an hour, talking, or rather, she had been talking, and he had been trying to answer without straining himself too much. Like most people when they woke up, she had needed to use the toilet. However, seeing the boy jump to conclusions…she felt the need to calm him down before leaving him alone for a fair bit of time.

--

"If you find anything, send word at once." Sarutobi ordered Inuzuka Tsume and her team, which consisted of her daughter, Hana; Hatake Kakashi and a masked Anbu who went by the name of 'Tenzo'. The team bowed in confirmation before turning to leave the tower. Earlier that morning, one of Tsume's kin had told the Hokage that he had found the horseman's sent heading south, and as a result, a search team was formed. "And remember, I want him back here unharmed."

"And the horseman?" 'Tenzo' asked.

"I'd prefer to interrogate a living person rather than have them dissected under a lamp." Meaning: apprehend if possible. Eliminate it need be.

"Hai!" with that, the four team members and the four large hounds made their way south.

--

Naruto almost jumped in shock as the door to the bathroom shot open. The raven haired woman walked towards her bed but stopped and looked at him for a moment. He could see the sheen of water on her face, meaning that she had also taken the time to wash her face after using the toilet. Looking at her purple eyes, he could see a gleam of some sort behind them…but he wasn't sure what kind of gleam it was.

Fortunately, he didn't have to wait very long before he found out.

"I was thinking about it, kid." The woman began, cocking her head to the left slightly. "You owe me a life debt." Naruto felt his eyes open as far as they could go. "And you owe me for the medicine I gave you." His eyes narrowed slightly.

'_I thought she did it because she was nice…'_ he thought to himself, a scowl forming as he did so.

"Because you owe me a life debt, and you owe me for the medicine…" she trailed off. Leaving him baited, she grabbed her cloak and pulled it on over her head, she looked at him again and resumed speaking. "…You're gonna come with me for a while…"

"Nani?!" Naruto couldn't help but shout.

"You owe me, kid. If it wasn't for me, you wouldn't be breathing right now." The woman explained, her purple eyes narrowing as she spoke. "I could give you a ride back to your village, but that Mizuki guy isn't dead. I only knocked him out. If he woke up last night, then he might have told them that you betrayed them. From my past experience with shinobi, most of them don't ask questions before they attack. They might just decide that you are a threat and you need to be killed. Terminated."

"Instead, I'm gonna take you with me. You'll go where I go and will stay with me until I feel like the life debt has been served." Naruto started to say something, but the woman cut him off. "I'm not going to make you do things you don't want to do…other than not allowing you to go back to Konohagakure." The boy's face turned ugly for a moment but she ignored it for the most part. "I'm not going to sell you into slavery or turn you into my personal servant or use you for any sexual frustrations I may have. No, I want you to learn."

"Learn?" Naruto asked. "I could do that back home in Konoha!"

"Really?" the woman asked almost shrewdly. "Did you really learn anything there?" the boy nodded. "You want to be a ninja, correct?" a nod. "Then why did you fall for that man's trap so easily?" the boy's face started to turn red with anger, but she didn't let him say anything. "You didn't learn much, because as you said, they don't really like you. If you want to learn how to be a ninja, then come with me. Where I'm going, you can learn how to be a ninja…and they won't shun you for being different."

Naruto thought about it for a while. He thought long and hard. His eyes where clenched shut and his teeth felt like they were going to break from the pressure. However, as he heard the door to the room open, he opened them and looked at the now cloaked woman's back.

"Fine." He said forcefully. "I'll go."

He couldn't see it, but the raven haired woman was smiling. _'Perfect…'_

"Hey, Onee-Chan!" the formal term he had just used for her caught her off guard. Turning around, she allowed him to see her surprised look on her face. "What's your name? If we're gonna be traveling together…I think we should know each other's names."

"My name is…Azusa."

"My name is Naruto!" the blonde proclaimed. "Uzumaki Naruto!" Naruto's eyes weren't open when he said that, having screwed them shut with a smile that came along with proclaiming his name to someone; so he didn't see when Azusa flinched at his clan name.

"N-Naruto…why don't you hold onto that sword…just for a little while, 'kay?" Blinking at the request, Naruto thought about it for a moment before answering.

"But didn't you say that it's special…why do you want me to hold onto it if it's so special?" Naruto asked.

"…I think you can handle holding onto it…don't you?" Azusa replied. "You aren't _that_ bad of a shinobi are you?" that got a reaction out of the blonde. After stating that he was a great shinobi(despite failing to become a shinobi three times now), he walked over to the bed, looked at the sword intently for a moment and then picked it up. Falling behind the raven haired woman, who had now put her hood up; they made their way down the hall and to the top of the stairs.

"…You feel up to some food before we leave?" Azusa asked the blonde. Naruto didn't answer at first…but before she could ask him again, his stomach interrupted. Loudly.

"Hehehehe…" Naruto chuckled, embarrassed by his stomach's want for some food…despite having drunken something that was supposed to taste like vomit the night before.

"Come on."

--

Breakfast was a bit of a downer for the two. The food was good, Sanosuke and his hired help, a young girl with light brown hair had fixed up a nice meal. However, two guests who had stayed the night kept looking at the young girl and making rude gestures, grabbing their invisible 'breasts' and moaning in higher pitched voices as the girl walked by them.

Both men were currently nursing head wounds from Azusa, which in turn made Naruto laugh at him loudly. Men could be idiots…and men could be insensitive. Those two were being both. Naruto…well…Azusa didn't know what he was doing other than laughing at them and provoking them into shouting matches.

As she paid for the stay and the food that Gekiryu had eaten during the early parts of the day, she couldn't help but reach out with her right arm, and gently knock her ward on the top of his head, earning a pained hiss from the blonde…which earned him snickers from the other two men.

"_Just because they are idiots, Naruto; doesn't mean you have to be one too."_ Both men glared at Azusa and started to make threats, but she didn't listen to them. Instead, she turned around and pushed Naruto towards the door; leaving the two fuming men inside.

As they walked around the inn and headed for the stable area, Azusa wondered briefly if she should warn her ward about Gekiryu. He was a larger than normal, almost completely black horse. He was a scary and formidable beast to warm up to…but after breaking the ice, so as to speak; he was a nice if not comedic horse.

"Holy crap!" Naruto stared in amazement as Azusa prepped the large black horse. The large horse merely turned its large black head back and stared at him for a second before turning back and looking at Azusa…and then whinnied.

"_Yes, he's coming to."_ The woman informed the animal, who snorted and shook its head negatively. _"I never said you'd be hauling two people for the rest of the trip…I just said he's coming with us."_

"Huh?" Naruto asked, wondering what was going on. _'Can she understand him?'_

"_Gekiryu doesn't want to have to carry two people as long as we can help it. He doesn't want you to touch him…it would probably be best if you walked along side us until we reach the port."_

"Walk…alongside?" Naruto repeated, earning a nod from the cloaked woman. His head fell slightly at the nod. Suddenly, as if nothing had happened, he was staring at Azusa again. "Why are we going to the port?"

"_Boats…Maybe they're will be a ferry or private vessel we can hitch a ride on."_ The woman answered. _"The place where we are going is a good few hundred miles off the coast of Kumo. However, we'll need a strong ship to get us to our destination as well as a good Capitan. We'll see if we can't find a ship to take us up to Rice country and then we'll hoof it to Kumo…no offense to you Gekiryu, I think your hooves are very nice."_ Naruto raised an eyebrow as the woman started to say sweet things to her horse. With a shrug, Naruto backed up from the stable entrance and waited for Azusa and Gekiryu to back up out of the stable, turn around and then walk towards him.

He had to strain his neck to see the cloaked woman's face, but he could still ask her questions if he needed to. Looking down at the sword in his left hand, he looked back up to the woman on top of the large black horse and watched her nod. Suddenly, with a lurch of movement, Naruto found himself a good twenty feet behind the large black horse, who had obviously decided that Naruto was a waste of time…time that could be spent running around like a young pony again.

As Naruto ran after them, neither of the two saw the two men from the inn look at each other before sneering at them.

End

* * *

Holy crap…this week has been nuts.

I've been feeling sick for the last few days and really tired too. It's taken me a lot of energy just to stay up and finish this chapter off…Which I hope you all enjoyed reading.

Anyways, I am too tired to do much more typing, but I'd like to thank all who read this and the first chapter and this one. The third chapter is still on paper at the moment, but that will change…

Ja Ne!


	3. Important

A/N

* * *

Yes, yes, yes…It's that time again! It's time once again for you friendly neighborhood A/N! (Ducks incoming shoe…)

I told you all that updates may becoming quicker or slower, depending on how often I got to use my mom's computer, seeing as my laptop had two info-tracker/key logger viruses and no Internet security. Well, more than half way through _Tenko-Sama!_ Chapter 5, I had to get off so my mother could do something on her machine…I hate sharing comps. I did not save my stories/chapters to a flashdrive, seeing as I was hoping to hop on when she was done with whatever she had to do and hopefully, I could finish the chapter and upload it.

No such luck.

Ten minutes before I would have gotten back on the computer, it died. Over heated and flatlined. Yeah. What sucks, is well...this...

_Heir of Uzu_ had about 1,500 words…

_Kitty_ had about 200 words…Want to get it right, which would have taken a while to do…

_Tenko-Sama!_ had over 6k…

Notes for future chapters for _Heir of Uzu_ and the planned return of _Acidic Properties_ were wiped and so was my other story that I had just started jotting down on techno-paper…AKA Word…all gone.

Do you know what's funny about this whole series of events? Besides me not saving everything to a flashdrive when theres one sitting right next to me? Is the fact that I have had more trouble with my humor stories than I have had with any other sort of story…Well, at least when it comes to tech problems. Writer's Block, AKA WB; is just a road block…The frying and the viruses? Maybe it's a sign?

Meh, I don't know…But I thought you all should know.

Also, I thought you should all know that I have Internet security on my laptop again and there are no viruses on my laptop…So…I should be good for the moment.

Thanks for reading and understanding.

P.S.: For the time being, _Kitty_ and _Tenko-Sama!_ are both on hold until I can get back what I lost…Not technically, but still. Until I feel I have what I need to update either of them, they probably won't be updated for a while. I am still working on them though… So, expect to see _Heir of Uzu_ updated or maybe even the revised version of _Acidic Properties_ before the former two.


End file.
